Bhima Koregaon: Can rise of Dalits reshape national politics?

Published: Tue, 02/13/2018 - 07:55
Updated: Tue, 02/13/2018 - 08:51

The fact that Dalits are now talking back, refusing to buy theHindutva agenda is threatening the upper caste that would rather havethe status quo continue than deal with politically influential Dalits.Does it possess the momentum to reshape national politics?

By managing to bring a breathless city to a standstill for a few days,the Dalit community did not just bring into limelight the age-old riftbetween the lower caste and Marathas but also caught the nation’simagination with ferocity days after people from the community weremercilessly beaten up by upper caste men while they were on their wayto the victory pillar in Bhima Koregaon to commemorate the 200thanniversary of the third Anglo-Maratha war in which a British armymade of Mahar soldiers had defeated a much larger Peshwa army. Itbrought back the memories of the riots that took place in Saharanpurin May 2017 when the Dalitbasti witnessed a bloodbath after a mob ofThakurs, armed with iron rods and swords attacked them. Men had beendragged out of their homes and beaten up, stabbed; the properties inthe basti were set on fire as women pleaded for mercy.

After the stir caused by Bhim Sena in the aftermath of the Saharanpurriots and the arrest of its leader Chandrashekhar Azad, there was muchado about the fate of the organisation. Also, the arc of the Dalitstir’s impact was believed to be limited to the Hindi heartland.However, the Bhima Koregaon incident has proved that there is littletruth to it. If the Maratha march of 2017 had stood out for its stoicand fierce silence; the Dalit protests have made waves because no onehad expected the community would assert itself with so much urgencyyet again.Dalits have assembled around the victory pillar for a long time. Thisyear was special because of the events that had taken place in 2017:the aftermath of the Saharanpur riots saw a massive backlash by thelower caste led by Bhim Sena’s Azad. As a senior journalist based inSaharanpur had then told Hardnews, the response was rooted in the factthat Dalits had voted overwhelmingly for the BJP in 2014 and felt thatthey had been let down yet again. The verdict was out when JigneshMevani, who rose to prominence as a young Dalit leader after fourpeople belonging to lower caste were flogged in Gujarat’s Una forskinning a dead cow in 2016 by gau rakshaks, won the Gujarat Assemblyelections as an Independent candidate from Vadgam constituency inDecember 2017. Mevani had secured a landslide victory with 95,497votes in a constituency that has 16.2 percent SCs and 2.5 percent STs.

Also, the arc of the Dalitstir’s impact was believed to be limited to the Hindi heartland.However, the Bhima Koregaon incident has proved that there is littletruth to it.

The victory marked the rise of Dalits politically and showed that ifother castes sided with the former, the combine could well turn out tobe a winning formula for whoever it favoured. The time to woo Dalitshad expired. Meanwhile, in Pune, the newly-elected legislator fromVadgam was asked to address the gathering at Bhima Koregaon, lending apolitical colour to the event that was otherwise viewed as innocuousand had been taking place every other year.Almost 50 percent of Maharashtra’s population comprises of Marathas.No political party, whether saffron or not, can ignore the community’sheft. The massive, silent display of solidarity by the Marathas lastyear could have been prompted by the rape of a Maratha girl allegedlyby three Dalit men, but the sentiment was underpinned by a deeperresentment towards the lower caste which the upper caste thought andcontinues to think has done well for itself because of reservation.

Also, there is a feeling that the SC/ ST Act for prevention ofatrocities against Dalits is often misused and has served to emboldenthe untouchables. Therefore, with eyes set firmly on the 2019elections, the local Right- wing leaders saw more wisdom in furtherdeepening the already existing faultlines between Marathas and Dalits.It might lead one to believe that Marathas have empathised with theBJP’s ideology. However, that’s not true. Since its formation in 1960, Maharashtra had never had a government that was not headed by theCongress in the state legislature until 2014. The warrior communityhad traditionally backed the Congress-NCP combine and was wellrepresented in the bureaucratic service and the state and Central government. The dent in the Congress-NCP vote bank primarily happenedfor two reasons: the Maratha community was demanding reservation ineducation and employment and categorisation as OBC and severalindividual leaders had pledged allegiance to the Hindutva ideology,making it easier for the BJP to make inroads. Resultantly, the BJP andthe Shiv Sena (which had anointed itself as the rightful heir toShivaji’s legacy) managed to wrest several seats from the Congress andthe NCP stronghold in the 2014 elections.

It’s worth looking back at the precursor to the Saharanpur riots: theValmiki community in Shabbirpur village believed that Thakurs hadbegun resenting them more because of how an elderly man from the community had managed to be elected as a sarpanch on a generalcategory seat. Mevani’s victory and the outburst of Dalit anger on thenational horizon in various ways reinstate the aforementioned view.

The men who have been accused of allegedly fomenting trouble in BhimaKoregaon — Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote — are Hindutva ideologueswho trace the origin of their political activism to either the RSS orthe BJP. They have on previous occasions demanded a review of theSC/ST act, claiming that it is being misused by the lower caste. While Bhide is revered in Sangli as ‘Guruji’ and had received a specialmention by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a poll campaign speechin Sangli in 2014, Ekbote is a former corporator who won the Punemunicipal elections on a BJP ticket. Using community figures toexploit the social rift between the two castes is not just good fromthe point of view of consolidating votes but also for challengingDalits’ political rise.It is also significant that the incident has taken place at a timewhen the country is besotted with a monolithic definition ofnationalism, crafted very carefully by those in power. Dalits’ annualpilgrimage to a site that stands as a sentinel to the victory of theBritish against an Indian army gains added meaning when one looks at it through the lens of nationalism, as it is understood today. Itmakes it easier for the saffron brigade to isolate the community andoppose, what in their view, would constitute an ‘appropriation’ of thepatriotism debate.

The fact that Dalits are now talking back, refusing to buy theHindutva agenda and demanding an end to years of oppression isobviously threatening the upper caste that would rather have thestatus quo continue than deal with politically influential Dalits.It’s worth looking back at the precursor to the Saharanpur riots: theValmiki community in Shabbirpur village believed that Thakurs hadbegun resenting them more because of how an elderly man from the community had managed to be elected as a sarpanch on a generalcategory seat. Mevani’s victory and the outburst of Dalit anger on thenational horizon in various ways reinstate the aforementioned view. Ithas forced the upper caste to look for ways to consolidate the caste hierarchy and has served as a shot in the arm for the lower castewhich has begun to assert itself more and more in recent times,heralding the beginning of a political movement of the oppressedagainst the oppressors.

Shalini Sharma is a graduate from Xavier Institute of Communications, Mumbai, with over three years of journalistic experience. She reports on politics, agriculture, foreign policy, human rights and other issues.